New acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling has early support from the business community to assume the agency’s top role as President Donald Trump’s search for a replacement becomes muddied by the upcoming midterm elections.
The White House has exhausted the goodwill it enjoyed when Trump named a former Republican lawmaker with ties to organized labor to the post last year. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned Monday after being plagued since January by allegations she committed travel fraud and had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
Her departure mars efforts by the White House to bring unions into the MAGA constituency. She was sold to lawmakers and the public as being a pro-labor Republican with ties to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, but also with a history of running a small business and having conservative values.
She got 67 votes for confirmation and was praised by some union leaders at the time. The next nominee will face a tougher fight for support from Senate Republicans worried about losing their seats in the upcoming midterm elections and Democrats who’ve opposed Trump’s policies.
“It could get gnarly and I would not expect senators to be as accommodating as they were in the beginning of the administration,” said Nicholas Beadle, a former DOL official who spent more than a decade at the agency in various roles. “This next nominee is also going to have to answer a lot of tough questions.”
Sonderling can act as head of the DOL...
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